Case Study: White Birch Paper

Forestry Industry Products Case Study: Paper Machine Retrofit

Demand for paper in North America is slowing as the internet, email and smart phones replace magazine subscriptions, newspapers, and other traditional printed media of the past. This is placing enormous pressure on paper mills to preserve capital and improve the productivity and reliability of their aging machines. Older systems often have limited capabilities compared to newer controls such as the lack of an operator interface, high speed communications, and diagnostics. Upgrading the electrical control system to a modern design with open architecture products with advanced diagnostics can make significant enhancements to the mill operation.

Avtron Industrial Automation Success Story: White Birch Paper

White Birch Paper was facing electrical drive system downtime of 56 hours per year. Thousands of dollars in lost revenue per hour of downtime were taking a toll on the bottom line. White Birch wanted to be proactive and ensure that they would continue to receive zero complaints from customers due to delivery delays. White Birch produces newsprint so when their customers are on a deadline to produce, delays can be costly and can interrupt the tight schedule of newspaper delivery.

White Birch’s problems resulted from an aging and obsolete competitor’s drive system. The old boards were failing and finding a reliable source of parts was becoming problematic. White Birch decided to replace the existing DC drive system with a new DC drive system but wanted to upgrade the capability of the machine. This project used the existing cabinets and minimized rewiring of the electrical system. Avtron engineered the drive system and simulated the system prior to installation. Avtron replaced the existing 21 section drive system in just 3 days and put the machine back in service in full production. Competitors quoted complete new drive systems or retrofits at longer outage times. Avtron also supplied their new PaperView™ machine monitoring system that makes it easy for operators to set up and monitor machine performance. Additionally, Avtron supplied their PerformanceView™ high speed diagnostic monitoring system which allows technicians and engineers to quickly diagnose machine problems in the event of a control system malfunction.